Protecting the State’s Coastline

Thanks for speaking up about the positive effect of the California Coastal Commission on the coast we will leave behind for future generations (“Keep the Coast in Focus,” editorial, July 4). The Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach, Santa Barbara’s Ellwood Shores and Arco Wildlife Sanctuary, the bluffs and beaches in Oceanside and, as you mentioned, San Luis Obispo’s San Simeon Point are just a few examples of the good work of the Coastal Commission.

Winning commission approval can take time, but delays are usually caused by chronic staff shortages and inadequate funding, not bureaucratic malingering. The Coastal Commission staff struggles with constant budget downsizing. As long as the commission’s budget is subject to the vagaries of the general fund and the political winds blowing out of Sacramento, we’ll all have to wait in line. Thankfully, a healthy, protected coast is worth the wait.

Mark A. Massara

Director, Sierra Club

Coastal Programs

San Francisco

Hearst Corp. officials have considered building everything from golf courses and resorts to a town of 65,000 on San Luis Obispo County’s Hearst Ranch. Because they have been unsuccessful in getting these plans off the ground, they now want to make a deal so they can build a hotel and 27 mansions. But it’s a deal in which Hearst would get $95 million and sell only about 1,100 of the 82,000 acres outright. Hearst would continue to own all the land it has proposed to develop in the past, and place the rest under a conservation easement. Hearst claims it will never be developed, but California politics has repeatedly shown us that never almost never means never.

Winning real protection for Hearst Ranch would be a victory for all Californians, so we owe it to ourselves to be optimistic. With public input and help from state negotiators, we may be able to make this deal better.

Steve Hommel

Long Beach

Yes, “the California Coastal Commission should also be credited with a victory,” but now the real question that requires answering is what will the public get that we do not already enjoy in return for our $95 million? Will we get any access east of California 1? This is what we should press for. If we are to give Hearst almost $100 million, we should insist on being able to hike through to the Los Padres National Forest and Ft. Hunter Liggett.

David Basche

West Hollywood